Tobermory lifeboat in five-hour call-out

Tobermory RNLI’s volunteer crew went to the aid of a 40-metre fish carrier with power failure off Ardnamurchan lighthouse on the night of Tuesday November 13.

The lifeboat was requested to launch at 10.13pm by Stornoway Coastguard, which advised the vessel’s owners had tasked a tug to attend the scene from Mallaig.

Tobermory’s volunteer crew launched the Severn-class all-weather lifeboat Elizabeth Fairlie Ramsey at 10.20pm and made best speed in southerly winds gusting up to 45 knots or more than 50mph.

The crew of the fish carrier had managed to anchor the vessel, so the lifeboat stood by in seas of three to four metres until the arrival of the tug shortly after 2am.

With the fish carrier safely under tow and heading towards Mallaig, the volunteer crew returned to Tobermory, where the lifeboat was made ready for service at 3.20am.

The service followed a call-out on Friday November 9 to carry out a medivac of a seriously ill woman on the island of Erraid off the Ross of Mull in a force seven to eight south-easterly gale.

In the event, the lifeboat was stood down en route as HM Coastguard’s search and rescue helicopter from Prestwick had evacuated the patient to hospital.

Tobermory RNLI’s coxswain David McHaffie said: ‘These two shouts were in rough conditions which are fairly typical of this area of coast at this time of year.

‘They also show our volunteer crew members are willing to respond to their pagers 24/7. They all went to their day jobs having spent most of the night in rough seas and only having snatched a few hours’ sleep.’